Instagram now allows 90-minute videos. Here’s what it means for your business

Instagram just made its biggest video change in years. On October 26, 2026, it started testing “Features”: horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long, right inside the app. After years of short-form only, Instagram wants your long videos too.

Here’s what’s changing, why Instagram is doing it, and what it means if you run a business.

What’s changing

Features: long videos, up to 90 minutes. They’re horizontal, like YouTube, and get their own section in the app. The test started with creators in Brazil and is now expanding to a small group in the U.S., with more people getting access over the coming weeks.

Clips that send people to the full video. In a separate test, creators can cut short clips from a long video and post them as Reels. Each clip links viewers to the full video.

Instagram on your TV. Long videos will also play in Instagram’s TV app, which is now on Apple TV in the U.S. Instagram wants people watching together on the big screen, not just scrolling alone on a phone.

Why Instagram is doing this (hint: YouTube)

Instagram has tried long video before. IGTV launched in 2018 and was later shut down. Even Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, admits he resisted it: “For a long time, I have been against doing long-form video on Instagram.” So what changed?

It keeps people on Instagram. Until now, a creator with a 20-minute video had to send followers to YouTube to watch it. Features lets that audience stay on Instagram.

Short and long work together. Mosseri says he wants short and long videos to feed each other. Reels are how people discover you. Long videos are where they stay.

The money comes later. Meta says it’s too early to share how creators will get paid for long videos. If ads or payouts come, expect a lot more long videos on Instagram, fast.

What it means for your business

You don’t have to be a creator for this to matter. If you run a dental office, a barbershop, a gym or a construction company, people already check your Instagram before they call. A long video lets them get to know you before they ever walk in.

1. One shoot, two formats. Film one longer video, then cut it into five to ten Reels. The Reels get you found. The long video is where people decide to trust you. A few ideas:

• Dental office: a 10-minute “what happens at your first visit” walkthrough with the doctor, cut into Reels that each answer one question.

• Barbershop: one full cut from start to finish, with the before-and-after and a styling tip as Reels.

• Contractor: a project from demo day to final reveal, with progress clips along the way.

• Nonprofit: one person’s story told in full, with short moments for Reels.

2. Film horizontal. Long videos are horizontal and Reels are vertical. Shoot in 4K horizontal with your subject in the center, and you can crop vertical Reels from the same footage. One shoot covers both.

3. Make it useful, not polished. Answer the questions customers ask you every week. A clear 12-minute answer beats a fancy 60-second ad.

4. Get in early. Most businesses won’t post long videos for a while. That makes it easier to stand out now, while there’s less competition.

Don’t have time to film or edit?

That’s what we do. In Los Angeles, we plan, film and edit your content. Anywhere else, our Remote Content service plans your videos, writes every script and shows you how to film on your phone. Then we edit everything you send into long videos and Reels.

Want a content plan built for this? Get a free audit and we’ll show you what to film first.

Sources: TechCrunch, The National and The A.V. Club, October 26, 2026. Watch Adam Mosseri explain the change in our Instagram post.